Professor Reveals Why Lassa Fever May Continue To Live With Humans

A member of the National Committee on the Control of Lassa Fever, Prof. Dennis Agbonlahor has said that Lassa fever will continue to live with Nigerians unless efforts are intensified on vaccine production.

Agbonlahor stated this on Wednesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin.

He said Nigeria is yet to get an effective vaccine for Lassa fever 53 years after its first outbreak in Nigeria.

This, he said, was because Lassa Fever is a regional disease, unlike the global coronavirus that is killing more whites than blacks.

“There is politics everywhere and the challenge is that vaccines for Lassa Fever are not available as against the COVID-19, which vaccines are produced within three months,” he said.

He, however, said the vaccine for Lassa Fever is “currently undergoing a clinical trial in Ghana.

“The authorities in the past, even the Federal Ministry of Health, did not show any serious commitment to the eradication of the disease until the emergence of the last Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu.

“Ihekweazu began to answer some calls, which resulted in the weekly update on the number of Lassa Fever infections and daily updates on COVID-19.

“Government is showing some interest now, which we are happy about. However, there must be a vaccine available if we are to eradicate it, particularly for farmers and frontline health workers.”

According to him, a professor of Medical Laboratory Science said, the depopulation of Mastomys Natalensis, the peri-domestic rodents that are carriers of the virus, is a way to reduce the spread.

A proposal on how to achieve that, the medical researcher said, had been submitted to the Federal Ministry of Health, urging the government to make money available in earnest to carry out the exercise.

“They may be impossible to eradicate, but we can reduce the population; we can achieve this if our leaders shy away from corruption.

“We are not directing our resources appropriately. Meanwhile, the health of a nation is the wealth of that nation.

“Politicians embezzling money can be infected too,” said the renowned medical laboratory scientist.

The researcher, however, called on individuals to ensure that their homes are rodents free, to make them less susceptible to the virus

According to NAN, the Edo government recently announced recording a total of 176 cases of Lassa fever in 11 Local Government Council Areas (LGAs) of the state.

The state Commissioner for Health, Prof. Obehi Akoria, who made the disclosure while addressing newsmen after the weekly State Executive Council (EXCO) meeting, said that of the 11 LGAs, Etsako West and Esan West are the worst hit by the infection.

She said: “Eleven local governments of Edo State have been affected by Lassa fever and leading among these are Etsako West and Esan West which accounts for about 64 percent of the cases and 52 percent of death.

“As of Tuesday, April 5, 2022, we have confirmed 176 cases of Lassa fever in Edo state and we are committed to eradicating it, focusing on eradicating the breed of rats that causes the disease.”